The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has signed on Sunday a cooperation agreement with 3 Japanese firms to implement “Electric Car Pilot Project in the Kingdom”.

The projects aims to evaluate and develop such trend in line of the company strategy of reducing dependency on oil and boosting environmental conservation standards by minimizing pollution associated with similar internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

The agreement was signed by Executive Vice President, Engineering and Projects, Eng. Khalid Bin Saad al-Rashed and officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc, Nissan Motor Company and Tecaoca Coco Energy Solutions Company.

Following the signing of the agreement, al-Rashed said that the project is an important step to transfer modern technologies and use the electric energy in general and electric car technologies in particular. The upcoming period, he added, will witness additional efforts to assess utilization of such promising experiments.

Al-Rashed added that the agreement also includes implementation of a project to develop a fast electric charger to charge vehicles in half an hour. Also, Nissan Co. will lend SEC 3 electric cars and Tecaoca Coco Company will provide the company with three fast chargers, highlighting the international trend to expand usage of such cars.

Adapting to the environment

The international companies are exerting great efforts for future utilization of electric cars at the expense of the traditional cars. According to the agreement, SEC will cooperate with the 3 Japanese companies to study operation of electric cars in the Kingdom and adapting them to the environment and requirement of their operation.

Also, possibility of expanding the project and means of utmost utilization will be discussed in order to achieve the objective of both sides and future plans, confirming that SEC is striving to achieve whatever keeps pace with the latest technologies in the field of electric energy, in line with the aspirations of the Kingdom.

It is to be noted that, over the past years, SEC has signed a number of agreements and memos of understanding with leading Japanese companies to build strategic relations with international manufacturers to nationalize and transfer modern technologies in the fields of electric energy, standards and specifications, engineering and design, maintenance and operation, professional training programs, exchange of experiences, as well as scientific conferences and symposiums.

This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on January 16, 2018.